Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 0528

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1878

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
35	28 May 1878	Thomas Joseph Lemon Flora Elizabeth Rushby	Thomas Joseph Lemon Flora Elizabeth Rushby 💍 1878/1144	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	24 21	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 weeks 3 weeks	at Christ church Nelson	78/1166		28 May 1878	Rev. James Leighton
36	29 May 1878	Frederick Ford Hannah Gifford	Frederick Ford Hannah Gifford 💍 1878/1193	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 23	Waimea West Appleby Waimea East	34 years 23 years	at Holy Trinity Church Richmond Waimea East	78/1215		29 May 1878	Rev. Chas O. Mules
37	1 June 1878	William James Lester Lydia Clutterbuck	William James Lester Lydia Chutterbuck 💍 1878/1150	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Servant	25 19	Albert road Nelson Waimea road Nelson	6 months 7 years	at the residence of Thomas Collins Waimea road Nelson	78/1150	Lydia Collins, mother	4 June 1878	Rev. John Beckenham
38	5 June 1878	Robert Disher Margaret Peattie	Robert Disher Margaret Peatie 💍 1878/1172	Bachelor Spinster	Station manager	29 21	Bridge Street Nelson St. Vincent Street Nelson	3 days 1 week	at the Presbyterian Church Nelson	78/1141		5 June 1878	Rev. Patrick Calder
39	11 June 1878	Joseph Day Melina Isabella Clouston	Joseph Jay Melina Isabella Clouston 💍 1878/1145	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Contractor	31 21	Maitai Nelson Maitai Nelson	3 days 21 years	at Christ church Nelson	78/1167		11 June 1878	The Lord Bishop of Nelson
40	11 June 1878	Robert Hunter Cate Lucy Lines	Robert Hunter Cate Lucy Lines 💍 1878/1134	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Domestic Servant	24 21	Shelbourne Street Nelson Halifax Street Nelson	10 days 21 years	at the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	78/1154		11 June 1878	The Registrar of Marriages Nelson
41	24 June 1878	Ernest Charles Kelling Celia Margaret Statton	Ernest Charles Kelling Celia Margaret Tatton 💍 1878/3293	Bachelor Spinster	Mining Registrar	29 20	Nile Street East Nelson Trafalgar Square Nelson	1 week 19 years	at All Saints Church Nelson	78/3346	John William Statton, Father	24 June 1878	Rev. Richard Joshua Thorpe
42	25 June 1878	Henry August Schwass Mary Dorothea Schroder	Henry August Schwass Mary Dorothea Schroder 💍 1878/1987	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Waimea West Waimea East	26 years 21 years	at the Lutheran church Ranzau Waimea East	78/1925		25 June 1878	Rev. Christian F. Meyer
43	25 June 1878	Samuel Matthews Elizabeth Astle	Samuel Matthews Elizabeth Astle 💍 1878/2015	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 25	Haven road Nelson Haven road Nelson	10 days 25 years	at the residence of Thomas Astle Haven road Nelson	78/1941		25 June 1878	Rev. Richard Joshua Thorpe
44	27 June 1878	Andrew Black Sarah Ann Potter	Andrew Black Sarah Anne Potter 💍 1878/1173	Bachelor Spinster	Police officer	30 21	Police Barracks Harley Street Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	9 months 10 years	at the Presbyterian Church Nelson	78/1142		27 June 1878	Rev. Patrick Calder

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).